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Winter Classic

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Det. Jimmy McNulty, Jan 1, 2011.

Page 10 of 14
  1. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Can someone get me the ratings from the Carolina-Edmonton or Tampa-Calgary series? There is a reason why about 10 clubs (the Original Four, Pittsburgh, Philly, the Caps, the Avs, the Stars and the Devils in their better years) get promoted in the U.S. -- it's because the fan bases care.
     
    wicked, Jan 3, 2011
    #109
  2. EagleMorph

    EagleMorph Member

    One-hit wonders don't have improving ratings and publicity ever year. The Wrigley Field experience was better than the initial Winter Classic in Buffalo, and it was improved upon in Boston. It went back to a football stadium with Heinz Field, and outside of the weather, everyone was thrilled with the outcome.
     
    EagleMorph, Jan 3, 2011
    #110
  3. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Buffalo always plays both anthems but then half the crowd is Canadian. I don't know of any other rink that does that but it's a classy gesture.

    Nice thing about the WJC---no fucking anthems before the games.
     
    JR, Jan 3, 2011
    #111
  4. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    The whole premise of the outdoor game is fraudulent. Professional hockey hasn't been played outdoors in over a hundred years. This "back to the roots" mantra refers to kids playing shinny outdoors on backyard rinks or if they're lucky a local pond or slough.

    The outdoor game gimmick diminishes the sport. It has nothing to do with professional hockey.
     
    JR, Jan 3, 2011
    #112
  5. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    Why would the NHL stage a game in an non-NHL market? This thing is a money maker for a host city, so the NHL has an obligation to throw that to one of its member teams, much like an All-Star game.
     
    Smasher_Sloan, Jan 3, 2011
    #113
  6. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Come on, JR. You may not like it, but to say it diminishes it is a stretch. For the NHL, anything that gets more people watching the game here in the US is a good thing. And that's what the game has done. Sometimes you have to market to the casual fan, or even the guy who has never really given hockey a chance, in order to grow. Doing that one time out of 82 games is fine. One unique game won't diminish hockey.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Jan 3, 2011
    #114
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Putting it in Heinz Field may have been pushing the gimmick button just a little, since freezing temps weren't 100 percent guaranteed in Pittsburgh and it's an impersonal football stadium. (As is Ralph Wilson Stadium, but it gets the benefit of the doubt for being in a huge hockey area and guaranteed effing cold.) But again, it's still a legal, normal game (as opposed to the NW/Illinois football farce at Wrigley) and the positives far outweigh the negatives. I watched most of it and usually my hockey interest is strictly playoffs.
     
    playthrough, Jan 3, 2011
    #115
  8. bagelchick

    bagelchick Active Member

    Call me crazy...but I don't think there was any way in HELL the Rooney's would've allowed the WC to be played up against the Steelers on Sunday.
     
    bagelchick, Jan 3, 2011
    #116
  9. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Why would the Rooneys care? Chances are the Steelers would have dwarfed the Penguins in the ratings. It's what happened with the Flyers last year when they were up against Penn State. JoePa crushed 2010 version.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Jan 3, 2011
    #117
  10. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    The problem is it doesn't showcase the NHL game. When you play in shitty conditions like that, Crosby and Ovechkin aren't really much better than anyone else. The great things they can do are neutralized by the inability to skate, stickhandle and pass. There's no finesse when you're playing in puddles.

    It's a spectacle and an event, but it's lousy hockey. Non-fans might watch for the gimmick, but they're not going to see anything that will make them fans of "regular" hockey.
     
    Smasher_Sloan, Jan 3, 2011
    #118
  11. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    It had been 20-30 degrees and just shit ass weather up and down the east coast, including in Pittsburgh, for the two weeks leading up to the event. It's pretty chilly again already. The one day, literally just one day between early December and today that they got bad weather that could disrupt the event, it came when they were playing it. It's a million to one shot (well, not quite, but you get it) and they lost that gamble and the conditions sucked. But it's a risk worth taking. That the ratings were their highest ever here in the states seems to support my argument. And I think even the casual observer understood pretty clearly why the stars were neutralized.
     
    Flying Headbutt, Jan 3, 2011
    #119
  12. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    The Sunday afternoon games, even for their non WC games, have always been a head scratcher for me. The last thing I'm thinking on Sunday afternoon is I gotta watch the Rangers and Flyers. For me hockey has always been better suited in the evenings, and I really don't know why. I think their ratings overall would be better if they played prime time games on NBC instead of early afternoon games. Make it an event (ala monday night football or hockey night in canada) instead of a space filler.
     
    Beef03, Jan 3, 2011
    #120
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